The annual pilgrimage to the nations capital took place over the last weekend in November where 4 teams from Freezone headed along the Hume Highway bound for the 50th Annual Good Neighbour Tournament run by Volleyball ACT. This 2 day tournament sees play across mutliple divisions and has a huge and healthy following of teams from all around the country.
Freezone was represented in Division 2 with the Pistons, 2 x teams in Division 3 with the Zephyr Studs and Spiked Punch and Freespirit brining up the colours of the club in Division 4. It was a wonderfully successful tournament for the club with 2 medal winners, Spiked Punch taking out silver in Div3 and Freespirit also getting silver in Div 4. We had a healthy sprinkling of other Freezone faces amongst some of the other teams competing as well, so the club was ‘out in force’.
The event is a wonderful chance for Freezone teams to cut it with the wider volleyball community of Australia and having the chance to play against all manner of teams from Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and of course NSW and the ACT. The 50th anniversary tournament was a great achievement of longevity and operating one of Australia’s most popular tournaments on the volleyball calendar.
Play took place across multiple venues, so keeping up with everyone was a manner of lots of texting, messaging and Facebook tagging. Most teams got to get around and support each other when they were playing with breaks throughout the day giving everyone the chance to check each other’s progress and watch some healthy competition. Some great games were had and particularly in the finals where Freezone teams were pushed to the limit by opponents and tight games ensued. This is a tournament of great significance that allows the club to stretch its wings and experience.
It was such a wonderful event to be part of the ‘sisterhood’ that takes the Freezone name and ethos into the community. Playing against such a variety of other teams and having our profile as a LGBTI club proudly displayed at such a national tournament is a great platform for our goals of bringing tolerance and inclusion into the sporting arena. Well done and congratulations to ALL our competing teams and players – you certainly did the club very proud.
